


Felix Fidelis

by Angryangryowl



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cat Ears, Cat/Human Hybrids, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Kylo is part-cat, Kylux - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 05:55:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7156310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angryangryowl/pseuds/Angryangryowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux discovers that Kylo is part-felisian, and had the ears and tail to match. And also that temper tantrums can be averted by petting him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Felix Fidelis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Syrum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syrum/gifts).



> Thank you for listening to me ramble and coming up with a lot of ideas for this fic. And for introducing me to kitty Kylo which I never knew I wanted but now love. <3

Hux doesn’t know what to expect when Kylo Ren takes off his helmet. If he ever takes off his helmet. He imagines he is horribly scarred, or only partly-human, or has no eyes. Something suitably dramatic. It has to be for him to continually refuse to remove it. Hux feels uneasy entrusting so much to a man whose face or eyes, or real voice, remain a mystery to him.

Hux asks, demands, orders, and still he refuses. Nobody sees him eat or drink, he stalks the ship like a bad-tempered shadow. But Hux is good at waiting, and he knows that attrition has its purposes in any conflict. So after months of asking, taunting, goading from both sides, Ren gives in. Hux realises he’s holding his breath as Ren reaches for the catches under his chin which release the mask.  
With a pneumatic hiss, the mask lifts from his face, he lifts the helmet off and fluffs his hair with gloved fingers. He's younger than Hux expects, his personnel file claims he is thirty, but he looks closer to twenty five. Dark eyes set in a long, pale face, framed with loose black curls, heavy brows and lashes. A slightly beaky nose. Full lips, parted a little as he stares Hux down. No scarring, and the honey-flecked irises which stare him down are not cybernetics.

Just as he is beginning to think the whole thing really is the just the lengths Ren will go to for a dramatic entrance, two large, plush ears pop up from Ren’s scalp where they should not be. They are feline in shape, ending in sleek points about a hand’s breadth above his scalp, and covered with velvety-looking black fur, apart from a small tuft of white inside each ear. He still has two largish human ears at the sides of his head.

Hux’s first reaction is to reach for them, the only way to accurately assess what he was dealing with. Kylo takes two quick steps back away from him, glaring. Despite looking younger, undeniably attractive in his own strange way, and those ears, Ren was no less intimidating, and drew himself up to his full height in front of Hux. A couple of inches of height advantage he planned to use.

Hux composes himself, whatever he thinks of Lord Ren, he is most certainly not a plaything to be fondled. However much Hux suddenly wants to.

‘So, you're…’

‘Part-felisian. On my dad’s side, yes.’

‘Did your father have…?’ He motions to the top of his head.

‘He had them removed, when he was young. Supreme Leader Snoke believes it's important all my natural attributes present.’ He replied, sounding almost haughty.

‘Anything else I should know?’

‘Should know? You know my abilities and my uses to the Order, Everything else is irrelevant.’

Hux notices a pair of slightly elongated, sharp canines when Kylo speaks. He finds himself staring at those ears again. They look incredibly soft, the fur covering them is much finer than the dark curls on Ren’s head. Hux hates backing down. But tactical submission was as important as unwavering attack.

‘I'm sorry if I offended you, Ren. May I touch your ears?’

Ren sneers at him at first. ‘And if I had an extra head or tentacles or a tail, would you want to touch all of those too, General?’

‘Of course not. You don't, do you?’

‘That's for me to know.’ He says with a sly smile, but inclines his head.

Removing his gloves, Hux runs the tips of two fingers over the outside edge of one ear like he's examining a specimen. They are exceptionally soft, and from the way they twitch and move against his hand, incredibly sensitive. He cautiously strokes down, from the tip of the right ear to the join with Kylo’s head, following the grain of the fur. He repeats the motion steadily when Kylo’s eyes flutter closed. The right one is torn and has healed messily on the thin outer edge close to his scalp.

It's ridiculous of course. But the kind of calm that only comes from stroking a contented animal stole over him. Moving to the other ear, Kylo’s head sunk against his hand, his cheek brushing Hux’s palm, seemingly hypnotised by the sensation. He hums a little in pleasure at the flat on Hux’s hand smoothing over his ears and hair until he steps back suddenly.

He looks confused, scared for a second, and then angry. ‘This wasn’t a good idea.’ He straightens, reaching for his helmet.  
Hux wants to protest, explain the strange calm they both seemed to feel, how he suddenly wanted to feel Kylo pliant against his hand again instead of raging and snarling as he always did, how he doesn't understand but wants to. But there is no way to say any of this without sounding moronic. He settles for ‘Very well then.’

‘Don't tell anyone. Anyone at all.’ He mumbles, fumbling the clasps that connect his mask to his helmet.

‘I give you my word. Not a word to anyone.'

‘There'd better not be.’

He yanks his hood up over his helmet and leaves.

***  
Exhausted after the rest of an eventful shift, including a console monitoring the ventilation systems in sector 8 being entirely obliterated by Ren, Hux retired to his quarters. Hanging his coat and hat, he flopped into his desk chair. Very fine hide, soft and expensive, one of the few luxuries he allowed himself. That and a glass of brandy. He poured a double measure, sighing deeply and lying back.

His mind drifted back to Kylo, the source of all the intrigue and most of the frustration in his life at this moment. He’d seemed so relaxed, almost affectionate for the time Hux had been touching him, although he had given him little reason to be. But he had gone straight back to his volatile self in moments. And something else. For the briefest of seconds he’d looked afraid.

Hux fell asleep thinking about how it was only logical that Kylo Ren must have a tail.

***

He seeks Ren out the next morning, eventually finding him training in the sparring arena off of the officer’s gym. The doors have been overridden, but Hux rolls his eyes as he enters the codes. He works through training sequences with a practice saber, his broad shoulders and back fluid through each motion. A sleek black tail curls from beneath the loose vest and trousers he wears, poised, following the curve of each twist, spin and thrust.. His eyebrows knit together with concentration as he works through a complicated finishing move, sweeping back, weight shifting from left foot to right, round, over his head and down in a devastating slam which would obliterate anything in it’s path.

His chest is still heaving as he approaches Hux, sweat shimmering across his shoulders and collarbone. Hux pointedly keeps his eyes on Kylo's face.  
‘You cost us several thousand more credits last night.’ He says by way of greeting.

‘That must be difficult for you.’ Kylo replies, sounding bored. His ears twitch in interest as Hux speaks however.

‘I have a proposition.’

Kylo’s eyes narrow. Hux takes this as leave to continue.

‘Before you fly into another rage, come and find me. I'd be interested to see how you'd respond to me touching your ears again.’ He states it, trying not to grit his teeth because of all the things he thought would never cross his lips..

Kylo looks incredulous. ‘I told you that was a mistake.’

‘It seems to calm you. So why a mistake?’

‘Because..’ He hesitates, looking at Hux like he's guaging him. ‘Because I'm scared of how I like it. Because people touching me never ends well. They say they’re just looking and then they hurt me, they pull and they tease. I hate it all, I hate the damn ears more than anything.’ His voice sounds thick and too heavy in his throat for the last few words.

‘You think that I’ll hurt you?’

‘Why wouldn’t you?’

‘Have you considered why I would? I’m offering something of mutual benefit. If I wanted to hurt you, there are many more direct ways of doing so. However I punish and threaten, you don’t listen. There's little I can do to you that you’d notice. So consider this a different approach.’

Kylo eyes him distrustfully. ‘Maybe I could try.’

***

When Kylo barges into his room an hour into sleep cycle, two days after their conversation in the gym, Hux only looks up sleepily. He's sat on the bed, boots off but otherwise fully dressed in his uniform, datapad in hand.

‘What are your terms?’ He demands, gravelly through his voice modulator.

‘Take the damn helmet off and talk to me properly.’ Hux dismisses without looking up.

Ren hesitates but complies. ‘What do you want in return?’

‘Nothing. A little less destruction and a few more credits in my repair budget perhaps.’ He replied evenly. ‘Are you sure?’

‘No. But…’ His cheeks flush a little and he looks down as he continues, mumbling ‘It's been a while, since someone touched me like that. I couldn't forget it.’

Hux shifts over on the bed without taking his eyes off the day’s reports. Doesn't betray the price in his chest at Ren’s words. When Ren just stands there, he looks back at him. ‘Sit with me, and I'll try. If you don't like it, you can leave, I won't mention it again.’

Leaving his cloak and helmet on Hux’s desk, he shuffles to the bed and lies stiffly beside him, on his side, facing Hux’s thigh. With cautious fingers, ever aware of those exceptionally sharp teeth, he smooths a few stray locks from Ren’s eyes, before settling his hand on the crown of his head and stroking his thumb, gentle and slow over the arch of one ear. Ren’s shoulders stiffen, his legs as still curled, ready to spring, against Hux’s ankles.

He continues, carefully, a little more pressure. Ren’s hair is soft, tumbling in dark waves to just brush his shoulders. Not greasy or dirty as he’d imagined it might be. Hux feels a little bolder as Ren begins to relax, smoothing his ears down with the flat of his hand so they lie flush against his head. He feels that same calm settling over him as his fingertips trace shorter, denser fur into coarser but silky human hair. Ren’s forehead rests against his thigh, his eyes slipping closed. Blissful. 

Continuing to thumb through reports on the screen, he isn’t sure when Ren’s head ends up in his lap. He contemplates throwing him off when he first registers the warm pressure on one thigh. But he drapes his arm around Ren’s shoulders instead, scratching absent-mindedly behind one ear with a fingertip. 

He thinks Ren may have fallen asleep when a low rumble ripples through his body. Hux wonders if it’s his stomach for a moment before it happens again. A low, rumbling purr. His hand settles on Ren’s shoulder as he jumps. 

‘What was that?’ He shies away, a hand on his stomach, eying Hux with suspicion.

‘Most cats purr when secure and comfortable. You’re part-Felisian, so it follows that you’d purr in response to being stroked. You’ve never done that before?’

‘No, I don’t think so. My mom, when I was little and she had the time, she’d rub my ears dry after a bath but it wasn’t like that. You were different. That spot just behind my left..’ He falls into silence, still looking so drowsily confused.

‘You can come back, if you’d like. It was pleasant, you being there.’ 

He raises an eyebrow but isn’t about to turn the invitation down. He settles back on Hux’s lap, perhaps a little closer than before, an arm draped over Hux’s legs. He begins purring again as Hux’s fingers comb through his hair and over the fine covering of fur on the back of his neck.

He puts his datapad down after another ten minutes or so. His eyes are too heavy to keep working. He shifts Ren off of his lap long enough to remove his uniform tunic and fold it before settling next to him. Ren barely hesitates to rest his head on Hux’s chest. He can feel the low vibrations of each purr in his chest.

‘What happened to this one?’ he murmurs, thumbing the torn edge of Ren’s right ear.

‘Fighting, in my training.’

‘Did you start it?’ Hux asks, a little amused. He imagines a smaller, gangly Ren with a padewan’s robes and ears too big for his head. Still trying to take om the galaxt single-handed.

‘I kinda stood out I guess. Being the only one with ears and a tail. Some of the older kids pulled them, trying to get me to hiss or bite them. So I punched one.’

‘I see.’

‘That’s why I hate them, nothing good ever happens because of them. I could have had them amputated at fourteen, like my dad. All the agility and fun parts, without people noticing too much. But Snoke thinks it’ll diminish my powers.’

Hux doesn’t comment, it feel too much like treason to doubt the Supreme leader’s opinion on the mysterious nature of the force.

Ren sighed in contentment as Hux began smoothing his ears flat again. For something that had been an attempt to soothe Ren into submission, this was curiously, frighteningly intimate. Hux couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this close to another person. He was too busy and did not normally miss this sort of contact. But Ren is warm, purring blissfully and nuzzling against his chest. His long legs twining with Hux’s. And Hux is beginning to fall asleep, his cheek resting against the top of Ren’s head, those ears tickling his chin. However much he doubts, it would take more strength and inclination that he has to move now.

***

It happens again after a disastrous defeat two days later. Almost shaking with rage, Ren barges into his quarters and removes his belt, robe and helmet, leaving him in only his undershirt. 

‘I could still just take it out on the training droids.’ he snarls. The tension is visible in his shoulders

‘I’m grateful that you didn’t.’ Hux could just tell him to get out, and risk it. But it’s been a peaceful few days, he may make it to the next quarter with the budget in the black and he in no way enjoyed the night spent with Ren clinging to him. Purring and mumbling, wrapping that long body around his however he chose to lie. He has to keep telling himself that he isn’t enjoying this. It's a necessary penance for a peaceful life. He's too tired, and too cautious to categorise it as anything else.  
‘It's late. I’m on first shift in the morning. Can we do this in bed?’

Ren settles grumpily beside him, nuzzling impatiently into his neck as soon as Hux lies down. Hux’s hand balls into a fist between his shoulder blades. This is too fast, this is too much, this is..strange. Nobody did anything without his express permission. Ren was obviously more of the ‘better to ask forgiveness’ persuasion. The soft huffs of Ren’s breathing ghost over his collar bone. Forehead and nose buried in the hollow of his neck, and Ren’s hand brushing his undershirt aside in favour of Hux’s bare belly. He is quickly learning just how tactile Ren was given the opportunity.

Ren makes no attempt to remove his clothes or do anything other than get closer. He rubs his nose and lips over Hux’s neck, ears and hair, softly licks his jaw in greeting and purring loudly. And it's not unpleasant. He feels needed, the kneeding, nuzzling touches somehow more than if Ren had simply kissed him. His heart swells against his ribs when that long, powerful body is twining around his, smelling, stroking, wanting him close. And he can't help but respond. He chases each touch that’s taken away, wants to feel Ren’s bare skin in return. He cautiously tangles his arms and legs with Ren, plants gentle hands on his chest, arms and belly. Finds the downy patches of fur across the line of his shoulders and the slim, silvery trail down his spine, connecting head and tail.

Ren positions Hux, heavy-handed but not rough, on his side facing Ren so that he can continue to stroke, shoulders to the tip of his tail whilst Ren curls around him. He hears a single word in a voice that isn't his in the back of his mind. ‘Mine.’

*****

The thought that perhaps he really has taken on too much, that he should kick Ren out and send himself for reconditioning does pipe up sometimes. The content, homely feeling when Ren is back in his arms, calm and purring, kicks it away every time.

And a few weeks later, after endless nights with Ren curled around him, he doesn’t pull away as quickly as he should when Ren’s lips settle on his in the barest brush of a kiss. And another, just to be sure. A third to check that he wasn’t asleep. Arms and legs and tail twining, just to make sure the other gets the message. The first nervous swipe of Ren’s tongue over his bottom lip is electric. And the unexpected whimper of pleasure when his arm slips around Ren’s waist to pull him on top of him will stay in some corner of his brain for a very long time. 

It’s still strange comfort. But it is comfort, and Hux can’t sleep without this chaotic man, all fur and ears and long limbs, plush lips and patient hands that trail and stroke and taste the freckled landscape of Hux’s neck and shoulders. Lips and nose that nuzzle and purr, nudge and lick with such care, and leave his mind beautifully blank.

Hux has been claimed by this creature, apparently. He's alright with that.


End file.
